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Rick Rizner
Epson's flatbed scanners are no strangers to PC World's ranked charts, where both small-office and corporate-level models have earned positions of honor over the years. Now, with the debut of its new Perfection 4490 Photo, Epson has another winner on its hands. Although the 4490's $249 street price makes it expensive for a value model, it also provides powerful features ideal for photo enthusiasts and other advanced users to justify its premium cost.
The dual-format 4490 scans both paper and transparencies at a reasonably fast pace. Numerous options--such as color restoration-- help improve image quality during the scanning process. The 4490 also incorporates Digital ICE (Image Correction and Enhancement), an efficient hardware-based technology that automatically repairs image defects such as dust and scratches, reducing the need for tedious manual corrections in an image editor. The 4490's Digital ICE scanning feature can be applied only to film, however, and not to photos.
Among the Hi-Speed USB 2.0 value models...